Saturday, May 18, 2013

I found this in FACEBOOK, and I felt the urge to share this. Please try to read with open minds.

THE PHILIPPINES (A FOOLED NATION) By: Bryan

I’m actually studying International Trade Law and Economics here at
Busan National University South Korea. My Professor once said that the
economic models of East Asia as well as the South during the post war
era particularly in the 1960’s are based on Japan and the Philippines.
He added that the Philippines is one of the richest nations next to
Japan in that time and also once envied.
Having said all these I was actually proud and happy seeing all my
classmates of other nationalities looked at me with smiles on their
faces.

But, what struck me the most is when my professor asked
me, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR COUNTRY? I couldn’t answer back. From this, I
saw the sudden shift of emotions in the class. I went home having this
in mind. I was quite puzzled of what really happened.

Then one
day, my wife, a Korean national found a documentary about the late Pres.
Marcos and his wife Imelda made by a Korean film company. He is
actually very famous here in Korea and is known to be a great president.

In the documentary I saw a lot of things I couldn’t imagine happened
during those days. I was surprised to see the prosperous and peaceful
life the Filipinos back in those days were enjoying. I saw people
wearing formal clothes (suits), a clean and magnificent city, happy
people walking on the old streets of Manila, thriving communities and
places everywhere and many more.

An interesting as well as
quite controversial part of the documentary is the part wherein Bong
Bong Marcos was interviewed. He was asked, the same question my
professor asked me, WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS COUNTRY? He said, "My father
loved and cared for this country a lot and my mother as well. While
saying this, suddenly he paused with teary eyes and said, “We were
betrayed by the Americans”. He believes that his father trusted them but
they put him down. He also thinks that they used his mother’s (Imelda)
lifestyle to further destroy their reputation. Though he admitted she is
living an extravagant life, she also did a lot of accomplishments,
Cultural Center of the Philippines, Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center
of the Philippines, Kidney Institute of the Philippines, Nayong
Pilipino; Philippine International Convention Center, Folk Arts Theater,
and the Coconut Palace are all Imeldas' brainchildren. Nonetheless, all
major social and public buildings and institutions in the country today
were actually built during the Marcos’s reign.

What inspired
me the most is the time when I heard the story of the late president of
Korea Park Chung Hee who visited the Philippines ones in the 1960’s. Mr.
Marcos and Mr. Chung Hee were believed to be good friends. Pres. Chung
Hee and Marcos once visited the Radial Road 8 now called North Luzon
Expressway. I heard that Mr. Chung Hee literally cried on Mr. Marcos’
shoulder saying “ I wish my country would be just like the Philippines”.
Right after he came back to Korea he started a plan to create
expressways similar to what he saw in the Philippines to literally
connect the cities all over Korea which were divided by tall mountains.
He succeeded on doing this. And, it is said that this move is one of the
keys of the Korean economic boom. Unluckily, he was assassinated. Some
say that the Americans were behind the assassination.

I know
Marcos cared for his country a lot that he wanted to put it on the map. I
even saw in the documentary that he bought a lot of properties at Wall
Street at that time because he wanted the Philippines to be known and
dominate the world market. He also initiated a group of powerful south
East Asian nations (SEATO) and is believed to have been headed by the
Philippines to strengthen its economic relations further which is also
one of the models of economic integrations (G2, G3,G7, ASEAN, and so on)
these days. Another international diplomatic accomplishment of Mr.
Marcos was the joint effort of Japan and the Philippines to form the
Asian Development Bank in 1966 with headquarter in Mandaluyong. Some say
that it somewhat became just like the world bank of Asia and its sole
purpose is to give foreign aid to poor countries at that time.
Unfortunately, the Philippines is the ones receiving aid nowadays.

For me, I think Marcos is the best president the Philippines ever had.
During his time the economy was at its peak, unemployment was low, peso
against the dollar was at its lowest, poverty rate is not that high
(compared today), in short the Philippines was at its finest.

But, not until the Americans came to realize that the Philippines will
grow strong and powerful as time goes. They were afraid it will take
over the Wall Street as it already started buying properties and putting
up state owned investment firms on the U.S. soil. One, thing is for
sure, that the Americans should stop this. Then it all began. They had
their plan of destroying Marcos’ reputation and putting him down using
the media and some manipulated social and political entities whose dark
aim is to privatize Mr Marcos' nationalistic legacies. The sad part is
they succeeded.

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About Me

I always believe that we only lived once in a lifetime. Exploring life should not be limited in dreaming and imagination. To widen the horizon is like to open ourselves from more beautiful things that life can offer. Let's not wait until old age strikes upon and we say to ourselves that “I have no delight in them.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
I remember a quote from Mark Twain that goes:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”